Title: Interview with Frances Warren Nelson and James Nelson, Jr.

Identifier: UA09.01.05.01.003   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/60394)

Description: Raw footage of Professor of History and University Historian Dr. John A. Tucker interviewing Frances Warren Nelson and her son, James "Jim" Nelson, Jr. Mrs. Nelson, a Pitt County native, speaks about her Primitive Baptist heritage, her husband's (James A. Nelson) childhood with his grandmother and aunt in New York City, their visits to his siblings living in North Carolina, and his Irish Catholic heritage. She describes her father's reaction upon learning her intent to marry an Irish Catholic, the cordial relationship between her husband and father after their marriage, the contrast between her Primitive Baptist family and James Nelson's family, and the reasons she chose to convert to Catholicism. She also recalls her experience meeting Kennedy during his visit to the tobacco warehouse before his campaign visit to East Carolina College. Kennedy's visit was the first visit to Greenville by a presidential candidate. Jim Nelson, who was 6 years old at the time, describes reasons the Kennedy campaign may have chosen to visit Eastern NC, the significance of his visit to the tobacco warehouse and its influence on area farmers, and how Kennedy's visit influenced the perception of Kennedy's Catholicism among area residents. Mr. Nelson also speaks about the small size of the Catholic population in North Carolina at the time and how it affected him as a child, as well as how James Nelson's family influenced the perception of Catholics by Pitt County residents. Interview date November 21, 2008.